Couple Awarded $10 Million In Motor Vehicle Crash Case

A jury awarded a couple more than $10 million in damages in a case involving a multi-vehicle crash in Dickson City, Pennsylvania. A dump truck that had steering and brake problems was involved in the crash. Valvano Construction Inc. and its driver, Theodus Williams, will have to pay the plaintiffs, Holly Ann Kuchwara and Robert J. Kuchwara, $9.1 million in compensatory damages and $1.025 million in punitive damages. Williams was driving a 1979 Mack dump truck loaded with stone in May 2010, when he lost control of the truck and collided with a line of vehicles on a city street. The collision knocked another car into the back of the Kuchwara’s vehicle. Their Toyota Four Runner SUV was known into a utility pole.

Valvano Construction and Williams were charged by police with 12 violations each, saying the truck had brake and steering deficiencies and that Williams was operating the vehicle with an expired medical examination certificate. The crash left Holly Ann Kuchwara with a fractured vertebrae, shattered ankle, head trauma and other injuries, her lawyers said in the complaint. It was clear the truck should never have been on the road. Joseph A. Quinn, a lawyer with Hourigan, Kluger and Quinn, a firm located in Kingston, Pa., represented the plaintiffs. He did a very good job in this case.